The Philadelphia Flyers‘ goaltending situation is still laughable, Sidney Crosby is closing in on another Pittsburgh Penguins franchise record, Blake Wheeler stands alone, and Nikita Kucherov remains ridiculous.
Here are four things we learned in the NHL on Tuesday night.
Flyers goalie carousel continues
There are three certainties in life: Death, taxes and the Flyers going through goaltenders like tissues.
Mike McKenna started for Philadelphia in its 5-3 loss to the Washington Capitals, becoming the seventh (!) goalie to play for the Flyers this season.
The day the Flyers find an established No. 1 will probably induce Super Bowl-winning levels of celebrations in the city of Philadelphia.
Crosby close to another milestone
By scoring in the Penguins’ victory over the Florida Panthers, Sidney Crosby recorded his 12th NHL season with at least 20 goals. That pulls Crosby level with Mario Lemieux for the franchise record.
With his latest exploits, Crosby is on pace for 106 points this season, which would be his highest total since the 2009-10 season. Not bad at all.
Kucherov joins Jagr’s company
Speaking of elite players, Kucherov is still a force to be reckoned with in the NHL, and this latest feat highlights it perfectly.
Kucherov hit the 70-point mark in just his 43rd appearance of the regular season. The last player to reach that club was Jaromir Jagr at the start of the 21st century.
Kucherov tops the NHL’s scoring lead with 71 points – 50 of them assists – which puts the Russian forward in an even greater field.
After a relatively slow start out of the gate, Kucherov certainly looks poised to finish atop the scoring charts come season’s end.
Wheeling and Dealing
Kucherov may have the league lead in assists, but Wheeler has proven to be a natural playmaker.
The Winnipeg Jets captain notched his 34th primary assist of the season, more than any other player, as he guided the Jets past the Colorado Avalanche in a 7-4 thriller.
Even though Kucherov is enjoying a mind-blowing year, Wheeler is only five assists behind him for the NHL lead. That’s quite impressive given the red-hot form Kucherov has displayed over the past few months.
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